Case Labs removes the “ZK” trademark application in the industry backlog

TLDR

zkSync developer Matter Labs applied for the trademark “ZK” (short for “zero-knowledge”) in February 2024. The move was met with strong opposition from industry leaders and competitors, who argued that ZK technology should remain a public good. . Critics, including the co-creators of Zeke Proofs, Shafie Goldwasser and Silvio Micali, condemned the experiment as a breach of crypto, Ethereum and academic ethics. Following the backlash, Matter Labs decided to cancel all trademark applications for the word “ZK”.

Matter Labs, the company behind the Ethereum Layer 2 scaling protocol zkSync, recently faced a lot of criticism from the crypto community after it applied for the trademark “ZK”.

Short for “zero-knowledge,” it refers to a cryptographic technique that allows one party to prove the truth of a statement to another without revealing any additional information.

In the year In February 2024, Matter Labs filed trademark applications for “ZK” in nine countries, saying it was an effort to ensure that the term could be used freely in the context of its products such as “zkSync” and “ZK Stack”.

However, the move was met with strong opposition from industry leaders and competitors, who argued that ZK technology should remain a public good accessible to everyone.

Thanks to everyone who followed our posts and gave us ideas, support and feedback.

As a result of these discussions, we have decided to drop all trademark applications for the word “ZK”.

These discussions come down to one important fact: impossible…

— The Matter Labs (@the_matter_labs) June 2, 2024

A group of prominent people in the ZK technology industry, including Shafie Goldwasser and Silvio Micali, inventors of the ZK evidence, published an open letter condemning the Mater Labs experiment.

The letter, signed by the executives of companies such as StarkWare and Polygon, emphasized the importance of making Zike technology open and accessible, as commercializing such a basic technology is against the principles of freedom and transparency on which the crypto industry stands.

The signatories argue that ZK technology is the result of joint efforts by researchers and engineers, and that knowledge should belong to the community, not a corporation.

They accused Matter Labs of violating crypto, ethereum and academic ethics by exploiting the legal system to claim ownership of something that wasn't theirs.

After the strong backlash, Matter Labs announced that they will withdraw all trademark applications for “ZK” on June 2, 2024.

The company acknowledges the difficulty of establishing an independent and fair group in the international community, what works for Ethereum may not work for the rest of the world.